Gloucester Catholic (1) at St. Joseph (Mont.) (6) - Baseball

POMONA, N.Y. – Rob Kaminsky allowed his first earned run of the season here last night.

But the University of North Carolina signee and likely first-round Major League Baseball draft pick didn’t mind much. Nor did his St. Joseph teammates. After all, it was just a footnote to a colossal triumph for the program.

Kaminsky was his usual brilliant self, tossing a three-hitter on 87 pitches with 13 strikeouts and no walks, as St. Joseph, No. 3 in The Star-Ledger Top 20, upended top-ranked Gloucester Catholic, 6-1, in front of about 2,000 at Provident Bank Park thanks in large part to a five-run explosion in the third inning.

“You give Rob two runs, and it’s like 10,” St. Joseph coach Frank Salvano said. “You give him five? We had a great game plan going in, and we adhered to it. We give Rob that lead, and we ride with it.”

Gloucester Catholic (16-3) finally got on the board and ended Kaminsky’s run with a 0.00 ERA in the seventh inning, when Sean Breen’s single scored Giovanni Gussen with two outs.

By then, the outcome was a foregone conclusion, as the Montvale squad had long since turned the most anticipated pitching duel of the season into a runaway.

Gloucester Catholic ace Mike Shawaryn, who is Maryland-bound and also a professional prospect, matched zeroes with Kaminsky for the first two innings, navigating a two-out hit in both frames. But in the third, St. Joseph (17-0) got to Shawaryn early and reaped the benefits.

Joe Foote led off the inning by drawing a four-pitch walk. Mark Fossati then singled to center to give St. Joseph two on with no outs. Leadoff man Ryan Rivera then attempted to bunt the two over, pushing the ball down the third-base line. Shawaryn fielded it and looked to get the lead runner at third, but threw the ball into left field with no fielder present at the bag. Foote came around to score on the play for the game’s first run, and Matt Kozuch followed with a two-run single to make it 3-0.

Shawaryn would battle back and get two outs, only to yield two more runs on back-to-back RBI singles by Michael Gallo and Dom Paiotti.

“That was big for us,” Kaminsky said of the inning. “All week, we’ve been practicing for this game. Shawaryn threw his butt off, but we got to him when we needed to.”

Kozuch would drive in another run in the fourth, when his sacrifice fly plated Rivera.

“We were just trying to go up the middle the whole game,” Kozuch said. “We weren’t trying to put anything over the fence. Getting the first runs across was big. We have a lot of confidence, especially when Rob is pitching.”

Kaminsky is 6-0 with a 0.18 ERA. He has allowed 16 hits in 39 innings with 76 strikeouts and four walks.

Shawaryn went five innings, allowing six runs (two earned) on seven hits with five strikeouts, two walks and a hit batter to fall to 4-1. He has a 0.43 ERA with 14 hits allowed in 32 innings with 50 strikeouts and eight walks.

"If we execute (the bunt play), who knows what happens," Gloucester Catholic coach Mike Rucci said. "If we can get out of that inning with nothing, it's a completely different game. Once they get a run, they know they can play with a lot more confidence with him on the mound."